Culture

The Archive of the Cathedral of Santiago, no doubt one of the most important in Europe, houses books and documents of a high artistic value, whose origins go back as far as the first centuries of the Middle Ages. Together with the Library it is the trustee of the history of the Compostela See.

The same building houses the Archive, which guards and is responsible for the organisation, classification and service of the chapter documents. The Library, which amasses important collections from the 15th to 19th centuries, as well as other collections focused on documentation and support for research is also located here. Both work as a single activity, following common regulations and parameters that focus on facilitating the work of researchers.

Acceso: Sacristy (users must first be accredited at the Security Control Centre, located on the Treasury corridor).

Hours: from Monday to Friday, from 9:00 am to 1:30 pm. From Monday to Wednesday, from 4:30 pm to 7:00 pm.

Telephone: 981 575 609

Contact:

• ​Archive (general matters): archivo@catedraldesantiago.es
• Medieval documentation area: medieval@catedraldesantiago.es
• Modern and Contemporary Documentation Area: moderna@catedraldesantiago.es
• Library (general matters): biblioteca@catedraldesantiago.es
• Journal Annuarium Sancti Iacobi: annuarium@catedraldesantiago.es

• Library services
• Norms for access and consulting
• Norms for loans for exhibits
• Norms for reproducing
• Click here to download the application form for reproducing documents and images from the ABCS for private use
• Click here to download the application form for reproducing documents and images from the ABCS for public use
• Click here to download the application form for borrowing documentation for temporary exhibits
• Click here to download the application form for borrowing documentation of bibliographical collections for temporary exhibits
• Click here to download the application form for attested copies of documents from ABCS
• Click here to see the reproduction rates of the ABCS
• Entities that collaborate with the Archive-Library

According to the Regulation for Spanish Ecclesiastic Archives, “the cathedral archive consists not only of historical information, but also of all the historical documentation that is preserved therein, both the modern and also the one which is kept by the different council commissions, posts or offices. Once it has served its administrative purpose the documents must enter the archive in full order to become part of the documentary testimony of the life of the council”. This definition corresponds more accurately with that for the cathedral archives system, where the ACS functions as a chapter archive and periodically receives transfers from the cathedral administrative offices: Secretary (after forty years), Administration, Building, Museum and Pilgrimages.

History of the Archive

Description instruments

Chart for the classification of Collections

OPAC WEB DE FONDOS DOCUMENTALES

BLOG ÁREA DE DOCUMENTACIÓN MEDIEVAL

In the Library of the Cathedral of Santiago ancient volumes, some incunabula, can be found alongside the most recent works of reference and published research. This fact reflects the triple dimension of the centre: chapter library, Saint James library and auxiliary library to the Cathedral Archive.

Through the donations by the precentor Alonso Sánchez de Ávila and Archbishop Álvaro de Isorna, the cathedral library was completed in 1454 and it was located in one of the cloister towers. It consisted of an ensemble of books put together to cover the needs of the canons: liturgical and biblical texts, which they used for their worshipping, and legal works, which they used to defend the interests of the cathedral Council, to advise the prelate or for their tasks of archbishop audience. The first documented reference to the temporary charge of guardian or doorman of the library is from the second half of that century. The guardian was in charge of the custody of the cathedral library, whose functions were constitutionally established by archbishop Gaspar de Zúñiga (1569): having the key to the library, opening it two days a week during established hours, cleaning the books and the library; remaining inside to prevent thefts.

After the founding of the University of Santiago, where from the beginning the most intellectually valuable canons were professors, the interest of the Council in its own library dwindled. This would explain its small size during the entire Modern Era, as mentioned by Ambrosio de Morales. It was not until the Enlightenment when the bases were established for what would later be the Chapter Library―which today can be visited as part of the cathedral’s museum itinerary―thanks to the testamentary donations from the canon maestrescuela (head of the Cathedral school), Diego Juan de Ulloa (1762) and the prior from Sar, Pedro Acuña y Malvar (1814).

With the general opening to the public of the Cathedral Archive in the 1980s, the role of the Library as the auxiliary centre for research carried out in the archive was strengthened. But with the new century two events took place which established the Saint James orientation of the Cathedral Library. The first was the approval, in the chapter session of 27 June 2000, of the general plan for the creation of a Saint James Documentation Centre. The second, which took place on the following year, was the allocation of a specific place for the creation of the Saint James Library.

Click here to browse the Bibliographical Collection

Click here to acces the Opac website for Bibliographical Collections

The Cathedral Archive-Library has promoted cultural dissemination through activities such as exhibits, conferences, presentations, guided tours, webs and blogs, etc, but also through the publication and joint publication and distribution of various of its own works or works on the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.

With respect to the publications by the ABCS (Spanish acronym for “Cathedral of Santiago Archive-Library”), collections, journals, monographs and exhibit catalogues were published, highlighting:

• The Colección Histórico-Documental de la Iglesia Compostelana, which began in 1998 and is devoted to the publication of monograph studies on medieval history, modern history, history of art, philology and musicology and, above all, to the systematic transcription of the most interesting documents that are kept at the Cathedral Archive.
• The Colección Archivium Sancti Iacobi, which began in 2007 with an initial series for the publication of Instrumentos de descripción from the Cathedral Archive.
• The journal Annuarium Sancti Iacobi which began in 2012 and whose common denominator is the documentary sources, research and works related to or issued by the ABCS, as the cultural expression of that centre, also including works on the documentation of the Church Archives and Libraries and, in general, on ecclesiastic documents.

The publications may be obtained through purchase, subscription or exchange. The Catálogo de venta de publicaciones can be browsed (Catálogo de publicaciones). To view the journal Annuarium Sancti Iacobi, you may visit the website www.annuariumsanctiiacobi.org. For the exchange of all the other publications from the ABCS, there is a bulletin of duplicates available.

If your institution would like to participate in this bibliographic exchange programme with the ABCS, please write a letter of proposal to our email or postal address  (biblioteca@catedraldesantiago.es), attaching a copy of the publication to exchange or your institution’s publications catalogue. Clearly specify your postal address for deliveries.